PayWithSquare
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Square scores retail deal with AT&T, swipes smile off competitors' faces
Been paying for your frappuccino via Square, and fancied getting some of that diminutive payment-taking action for your own business? Well, previously, if you didn't live near an Apple store, Radioshack, Walgreens, Fed Ex office, Best Buy, Target, UPS or Wal-Mart then you were fresh outta retail-luck. Or living in a cave. Now, however AT&T has started stocking the card readers at all its bricks and mortar outlets too, further plumping-up that number of locations that stock it. Frankly, we're not surprised to see this reaching more shops, if the sales guys spend all their time drinking that brand-endorsed coffee.
Square CEO hints at Windows Phone app, says Starbucks funding will go toward 'international efforts'
As you probably have heard -- it's created quite some buzz, after all -- Starbucks just announced a partnership with Square to accept mobile payments via the Pay with the Square app. That's huge news for Square, which currently processes transactions for some 75,000 merchants, as the coffee retailer is one of the largest national chains to integrate with the payment service. At a breakfast in New York today, Square CEO and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz fielded questions about the partnership's importance. While most of the talk centered on the rollout that will bring Square payments to 7,000 Starbucks stores ahead of the holiday season, the discussion also touched upon other areas of expansion for the mobile payments company. Currently, the Pay with Square app is only available on iOS and Android. Asked whether a Windows Phone app is in the making, Dorsey said, "We will definitely build for where the users are, and we're excited about the Windows Phone interface." Take that as you will. Starbucks will start accepting Square payments ahead of the holiday season, and Dorsey said the coffee retailer's $25 million investment will be used for hiring and to expand "international efforts." Starbucks, which has 18,000 stores in 60 countries, would certainly be a natural partner in any overseas plans.
Starbucks switches to Square for payments, invests $25 million and will support Pay with Square
While Square's mobile payment processing platform has already picked up some major players in retail to go along with more than a million small businesses, its biggest shot in the arm to date is a new partnership with Starbucks. The chain will use Square to process credit card payments in nearly 7,000 US locations along with investing $25 million in the company, while Starbucks president, chairman and CEO Howard Shulz is joining its Board of Directors. Also notable for Square is that this fall Starbucks will be pushing features like its Pay with Square app that lets customers pay via iOS and Android apps, as well as the Square Directory of local businesses. In a letter, Square CEO Jack Dorsey pushed the platform as a way enhance local businesses and communities, but we'll see how friendly your local coffeeshop employees are when a familiar green logo shares their payment processor.
Square lets merchants offer first visit deals, reward regulars with digital punch cards (video)
The great philosopher, Huey Lewis, once mused that it was "hip to be square." And it looks like he might have been right. The nifty geometrically-named payment widget is fast gaining popularity, no doubt thanks to its simplicity and accessibility. The system's had basic loyalty functions for a while, but now, users of its Pay with Square app can rack up loyalty points for repeat visits, or certain spend amounts. That means no more scratching around trying to find that bent up punch card, just pay up and -- literally -- reap the rewards. New customers can also now be lured in with the ability for retailers to add first visit specials. Merchants also get an upgrade, including real-time in-app analytics and the ability to give on the spot discounts. Great news, of course, though we wonder if it'll extend to a free ride home?
Square to introduce digital customer loyalty cards for merchants
If there's a big name in the low-cost mobile payment market right now, it's Square. The company has quickly grabbed the attention and business of companies that want to accept payments, but don't want to pay the ridiculously high rates charged by credit card companies. Today Square is announcing new services, including a loyalty and reward program for merchants. With the loyalty program, customers get a virtual punch card in the Pay with Square mobile app. With each visit to a participating merchant, customers can follow their progress to a reward. Merchants can provide special discounts or free merchandise with a first purchase as a reward for new customers, and regular customers can get rewards based on total amount spent or number of visits. Square is also providing merchants who use the Square Register iPad app with much more detailed analytics on sales, breaking those sales down by hours, time of day, and day of week. Merchants will also have an idea who their most productive sellers are, and inventory management is now expanded to include categories of items. On the payer side, the Pay with Square app now includes an easier way for customers to find local businesses that take Square for payment.
AllThingsD looks at Paypal's new payments app
AllThingsD reporter Lauren Goode spent some time shopping with both Pay with Square and PayPal's new mobile payment app. The two solutions are one of several up-and-coming mobile payment platforms competing for your virtual wallet. Overall, Goode concluded that paying with the PayPal app was "relatively quick and painless." Not surprisingly, she noted that the biggest hindrance to either solution is the lack of merchants who are willing to offer mobile payments. It's still too new of a technology to go mainstream, at least right now. You can read the full comparison at AllThingsD's website.
Square's Card Case rechristened 'Pay with Square,' is first to bring geo-fenced hands-free payments to Android
You might know Square for accepting payments on your smartphone via a cute dongle, but you're probably less familiar with its second offshoot, Card Case -- a separate app that has enabled hands-free and NFC-free payments at over 70,000+ merchants for more than a year now. That effort is getting a complete overhaul today, cumulating in an entire rethink of the app and experience, in addition to its more-apt new title: Pay with Square. The redesigned UI loses its former card and leather-based garnish, opting instead for a simplified list of merchants sorted by distance and relevancy. Also making its debut is a search box, a spiffy map view and the ability to share merchants to friends through text, email or Twitter. We're most excited, though, for feature parity across iPhone and Android, which means formerly iOS-exclusive features like the auto-creation of tabs at pre-approved venues (thanks to iOS 5's geo-fencing APIs) are now present to green little robots everywhere. That's no small feat, as the company's had to roll their own geo-location API to pick up where Google's left off. Excited? Get your download on in the source links below.
